Mata: Attitude Was Key

Manchester United Man of the Match Juan Mata believes the players' attitude was the key to the 3-0 win over Shrewsbury Town at Greenhous Meadow in the Emirates FA Cup.

Mata picked up the star man award with 68 per cent of the votes on the club's official Twitter account @ManUtd after an excellent display, which included a delightful free-kick for United's second goal.

Chris Smalling opened the scoring midway through the first half, before the Spaniard doubled the Reds' lead on the stroke of half-time. Jesse Lingard rounded off proceedings as he fired home in the second period and Mata was pleased with his side's overall performance which booked the Louis van Gaal's men a place in the last eight of the Cup.

"I think it's a very special competition to play in," he told MUTV. "There is a lot of history and many difficult games against sides like this one and I think we did well from the beginning and that was key.

"We didn't let them come on to us and create chances from the start and that was good. There were a few tactical things we worked on, we knew they would play five at the back, but the most important thing in these types of games is the attitude and if you are ready for the battle, you mostly win and we did that," he continued.

"We scored two goals in the first half and we managed the second half well. So it was a good job."

There were some question-marks over whether Mata's free-kick should have stood, after two United players retreated from an offside position, but United's no.8 admitted the Reds' had been told their positioning is within the rules.

"We did it in Denmark, we tried it because it was something Midtjylland did," he revealed. "It was the referees' decision and they said it was not offside because they said as soon as I kicked the ball they come to be level with the defenders. In this match it was good because I think the goalkeeper reacted late to the ball and he couldn't save it."

Quizzed on his impressive personal performance, Mata admitted he felt comfortable pulling the strings at Greenhous Meadow.

He concluded: "I felt good. I tried to find the spaces with the ball and I think we played quicker, we played more forward, and we had more chances to score, but the most important thing is a clean sheet and we now need to build up for the next game."